In a previous article in which I talked about our businesses being like roses, something I didn’t touch upon was the pruning we sometimes have to do in our business. That is the focus of this article.
As business owners we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into our companies. We start them, nurture them, feed them and watch them grow. We become very attached to them, sometimes too attached, especially when it comes to certain facets of our business.
For those of us who have operated a number of different business, we know how hard it can be to watch something we have built and grown sliding downhill. Very difficult to admit it has become a millstone around our neck. Having business problems not only effects us financially, but also emotionally, personally, and creatively. We start to question our abilities to continue.
However, when certain strategies or facets are not working you need to learn to “prune” them. For example, when we operated Business Minders (a secretarial/assistant service to businesses) we started by offering telephone answering services, letter writing and sending, making call backs and answering questions, sending out general information packets, making appointments and scheduling travel. Basically everything an assistant or secretary would do if they worked in an office. We also offered additional services, like database set up, accounting services, and supply purchasing. However, we found after operating for a while, we had to “prune” some of the services as they weren’t helping the business grow but hindering growth. By “pruning” the extraneous services we were able to make the business work more efficiently and we were better able to help our clients.
We also found we had to “prune” some of the clients we were marketing to. By concentrating our marketing efforts on independent contractors and salesman, we were able to help more clients and avoid being bogged down by businesses who demanded too much of our time.
In addition we also found that we had to adjust our hours of operation and our fees, since many of our clients had to call us after hours for phone messages, dictation, and projects they needed to discuss. Some additional “pruning” of clients was done in the process.
Not long after, along came the internet and the plethora of “virtual assistants” and Business Minders become a thing of the past. Was it hard to do the “pruning” of services and having to let go of Business Minders, yes, and we probably held on longer than we should have, but we learned and applied this knowledge to subsequent businesses we operated, and were better for it.
So remember, “pruning” of your business is a good thing as it makes it more efficient and helps it to grow and prosper. Take a good look at your business and see if you need to do some “pruning”.
Copyright 2007, DeFiore Enterprises
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